Premier Danielle Smith expressed her frustration on Friday with the situation as Calgary deals with the repercussions of another major water main break, and threw partial blame on NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi. "Oh, boy, frustration doesn't begin to describe what we're seeing with what happened in Calgary," said Smith in her first press conference since the incident happened. Wednesday's break along Calgaray's Bearspaw South Feeder Main was the second in under two years, drawing frustration from a majority of Calagrians and their elected officials. "I think it should be unacceptable to Calgarians that they discovered last year that the pipe hadn't been monitored for more than 10 years, starting in 2014, and now here we are, a year later, going through exactly the same thing, which everybody feared, is digging out of water in the middle of winter, when we're looking at potential minus 30 days ahead," Smith said. Like many members of the public, Smith believes the problem should have been resolved after the first break, especially given the significant time spent on repairs afterward. Calgary's Mayor Jeromy Farkas, however, has said he was not surprised it happened again. "We have to fix the pipe, and until we completely replace the pipe, this is a ticking time bomb that Calgarians will continue to live with," Farkas said..Farkas took office in October 2025, and he and Calgaray's city council have already committed to proceeding with the construction of a new line to replace the Bearspaw South Feeder Main, which will not be completed until 2028."We are prepared to help Minister Farkas and his or mayor Farkas and his council in any way possible," Smith said. "But the seeds of the problem today, make no mistake, began under previous administration."Before Farkas, Calgary's mayor was Jyoti Gondek, who took office after Naheed Nenshi, the current leader of the Alberta NDP, served as Calgary's mayor from 2010 to 2021."They were having 20% leakages out of their water system, and yet, after the floods for 10 years, they didn't bother to do any investigation on the water main," Smith said."And you have to ask the question, 'Well, huh, who was the mayor after the floods of 2013 until he decided to retire?' and that was Naheed Nenshi.".Smith's additional frustration stems from the fact that this break occurred while a report from a review following the 2024 water main break sits on a desk awaiting the final draft to be submitted to the city council. The report, which was already nearing completion, is now expected to be presented to Calgary's city council by Jan. 8, following pressure from Councillors for officials to expedite the finalization process. In the meantime, Smith supports Faraks in his ability to handle the aftermath of the main break and has offered support from her government if needed. Smith also said, however, that she and her ministers will keep a watchful eye on developments in the weeks and months ahead. "So I will be working with my ministers as we go through and wait to see the administrative report released, and we'll see what kind of additional oversight that we need to we need to have in this area."
